Th3 N33d
by thag-the-upset
Summary: Three years after the events of "The Need 2 Speed" came to a close, energies of the universe have changed and adapted to the absence of the Chaos Emeralds.  With the emeralds and sonic gone, what will be the focus of these energies now?


Th3 N33d

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit work of Fan Fiction. As such, the characters used do not belong to me. The extent of my intellectual property is the story, not the characters therein.

A/N: I really WAS happy with how I had wrapped up the "Need for Speed" Saga, and a million thank yous to all of you who had read, reviewed and (hopefully) enjoyed it, it was truly a labor of love... But something tells me that I can push the story just a little further, not just because I love writing these chapters (I do, though) but because it can hold the potential for a theory I've held for the Sonic FanFics for some time now. I am one of those authors here who obsessively watches their read and review counts, but please, the entire reason why I write and post anything here is to get better AND to take the reader on a journey. So what I'm trying to say is, please read my previous 2 works, "The Need for Speed" and "The Need 2 Speed", as this story is a direct sequel and will really bring everything full circle to a total close (Yes, I KNOW I said that last time too, but I really, REALLY mean it this time...) Just keep in mind that those two works were made over an extended period of time, so my writing skills may fluctuate from chapter to chapter and story to story. Thanks for reading, I honestly hope you enjoy my tale...

EVIL: Results at last...

Three years...

It honestly took her three years to work up the nerve to brave an escape attempt... There's no possible way that she could be strong enough to resonate with the Chaos Energy needed. But orders are orders, so I captured her, at the Site of Banishment and patiently monitored her carefully for these three years...

Torture, isolation, food deprivation, combat, noise abuse, near-death experiences... Nothing made her resonate at all thus far. The experiment would be a failure... I would be a failure...

As the commander of the Eggman Army, my take over of the world had been swift and devastating. With Sonic gone, the others weakened, and morale all but gone, resistance was laughable. All that remained outside of my reach was one little forest... Knothole.

Despite all they had been through, Sonic's allies had proven... Resilient. The option was always there, I could go down in person, and lay waste to the entire wood and those therein. But no, if this subject proved to be a failure, others would be needed...

Before abducting Amy, I was so sure that she would be the best choice... She had shown unusual results during the Chaos Conflict, and it was undeniably her 'other self' that had turned the tide in that battle, ultimately saving her friends, the world, and perhaps the very essence of the Chaos Energies themselves; finally purging them of our universe.

I watched on the 16 viewscreens as she ran, fought and struggled to resist my robot forces. All in a pitiful bid for freedom... She definitely had potential, her speed, while inferior to Sonics, was still substantial, and her skill with that hammer was quite remarkable. Yet no matter how long she fought, how close she seemed to freedom, nor how much punishment she took, the gray crystal, with a tiny green shard inside remained dull and lifeless.

In frustration, I threw the gem to the floor. "Enough," I growled before pressing a button upon the console before me. "Experiment A-0842 is a failure..." But then a sudden thought struck me... According to Robotnik's notes... Perhaps the near-death experiences had not been enough...

"Chaos unit... Terminate subject Amy Rose... Slowly..."

I must admit, I took some kind of grim satisfaction in watching as a ring of cloudy, viscous liquid began to seep up from the floor around her. I turned to retrieve the Pseudo-Chaos Emerald and watched it intently as the sentient liquid rose up in a pillar around her, imprisoning her.

"Display subject vitals." I commanded, and the top right monitor flooded with her respiratory numbers, her pulse, her blood pressure and brain waves.

I could not hold back a grin as I watched her struggle in vain to swim out of the chaos fluid.

"No, little one..." I whispered. "This time its all or nothing, I will not spare you, your survival is entirely dependent on you..."

Vitals continued to drop as she drowned. Watching as she slowly died, my eyes kept darting back to the Gem in my hands, if I was right, it would glow brilliantly at the last moment before she died, and then the experiment would be a success, and the last three years would lead to one of the greatest scientific feats the world had ever seen, and not simply been a colossal waste of time and resources...

As the old adage goes, a watched pot never boils, and this process seemed to take forever.

Finally, her body went limp, and brain activity spiked as her heart finally stopped. Yet as her brain furiously fought to preserve itself, the gem remained quiet and still.

A loud buzz snapped me from my trance-like observation of the stone...

Zero brain activity...

She was gone...

And nothing had happened...

I howled in a furious rage and threw the crystal with all my might, making a sizable dent in the reinforced metal wall of my command center.

I must have been wrong...

But it MUST have been her... All the data, all the computations and her emotional proximity to Sonic made Amy the logical conclusion... If the Chaos Emeralds are gone, but energy cannot be created or destroyed... then she HAD to be the new nexus... Who else could...

"So...nic..."

I whipped my head around to the sound of Amy's voice, registering a brilliant light from the gem I had embedded into the wall before the entire structure shook violently...

I came to a few moments later. The room suddenly had a slight tilt to it, klaxon alarms sounded in the distance, and all the monitors were filled with static.

"Report!" I commanded.

"Sir," A computerized voice replied. "A massive blast of unknown origin has completely leveled sectors 27 through 36. Surrounding sectors have sustained significant damage, but remain operational. Facility power is down to 78.3%"

That's not possible! The resistance has no weapons of such power, and it would take a great deal of my own missiles in a synchronized attack to come close to that amount of damage... then how...

… No... It can't be...

"Computer, send aerial scouts to the center of the explosion, and patch in the visual feed as soon as possible!"

"Aerial scouts underway, sir."

Fifteen of the sixteen monitors flicked on showing an aerial view.

It was absolutely stunning... An almost perfect hemisphere had been cut away from my fortress, save for a small hill in the very center... And upon that...

"Magnify!" I shouted hastily.

The small blob of pink zoomed in and slowly came into focus. Amy lay there, naked and still, but otherwise untouched.

"The subject appears to be... breathing sir." The computer reported.

It was unbelievable, I had been right! Amy was the new Chaos Nexus! And her power, it manifested in a blast of such staggering scale! The sheer amount of Chaotic Resonance she must have to cause such destruction...

"The emerald...!" I looked back toward the wall, only to find it nearly entirely blown apart, shards of the burst crystal and shrapnel from the metal frame littered the area.

"... Incredible." Was all I could manage to say, though had I not been so stunned and overwhelmed by the implications of this data, my mind would have had plenty to say. So the Pseudo Emeralds were the failure, not Amy herself... This complicated matters, but still, such energy from a living creature was simply...

"Sir?"

I shook my head, the computer had been requesting my attention for some time it seems. "Go ahead." I replied.

"Sir, we are detecting multiple intruders from several areas , they all seem to be converging on the blast zone."

Of course, the Freedom Fighters would likely never get a chance like this again, and would wish to understand the source of such strength as well... I merely waved my hand dismissively. "Mobilize security forces and destroy them." I said almost absentmindedly. "Wait... belay that..." If all my data an Amy was true, then maybe... I could take two birds with one stone...

"Give them a show." I finally continued.

"Sir?" The computer asked quizzically.

"Mobilize Security..." I clarified as I smiled slyly. "...But allow them to retrieve Amy Rose. Put up a fight. Make those fools THINK they have caught us with our pants down, but allow them to succeed and escape..."

"Understood sir, defensive forces mobilized, but they will be allowed to take the subject. What about the other intruders?"

I strode back to my chair in the center of the room, shifting slightly to compensate for the room being lop-sided.

"Kill them..." I answered. "The rest are all expendable..."


End file.
